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looping php code to speed up coding

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Hi -
I am finding that the project I am working on right now - I have a lot of code that I am repeating over and over with only a number increasing with each block. I am trying to use a for statement to loop over the code and increase a variable with each loop. Firstly, I don't know if I am doing this correctly ( placing the variables ) The actual loop works as that is easy to debug. But what I want to do is stick blocks of code into my controller. 
//            loop data
        for($x = 1; $x <= 5; $x++){
          $event->q1g$x_date = $dth->translate('q1g$x_date');
           $event->q1g$xht = $data['q1g$xht'];
                      $event->q1g$xat = $data['q1g$xat'];
                        $event->q1g$xhtscore = $data['q1g$xhtscore'];
                      $event->q1g$xatscore = $data['q1g$xatscore'];
            }

In the code above I am trying to increment the $x variable ( replace with number )
Not sure if the syntax is correct or how to debug it. If I try to print it out - it takes the code literally and shows nothing.

I realize that this is probably a PHP thing as I have explained before I am new to Concrete and PHP but have a lot of years of coldfusion programming. i know what I want code to do but not quite sure which way to attack it.

Thanks
INTcommunications
 
hutman replied on at Permalink Reply
hutman
Hello,

I'm not sure if I 100% understand what you are trying to do, but it looks like you have data coming through (not sure from where), I am assuming that you have the data coming in correctly and are just trying to process it.

What I would suggest is rather than using an object just create an array so it would look like this.

for($x = 1; $x <= 5; $x++){
   $event[$x] = array(
      q1g_date => $dth->translate('q1g'.$x.'_date'),
      q1g_ht = $data['q1g'.$x.'ht'],
      q1g_at = $data['q1g.'$x'.at'],
      q1g_htscore = $data['q1g'.$x.'htscore'],
      q1g_atscore = $data['q1g'.$x.'atscore']
   );
}


In order to debug this to see what you are getting you can either do 
var_dump($event);
within your for loop or print any of the $data items that you are setting in the array.

Again, I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to do with this information so I might have it all wrong, but maybe something here will help you out.
INTcommunications replied on at Permalink Reply
INTcommunications
I am just trying to keep from typing the same block of code over and over and just changing the number in the ( db.field )
I can see on my first post that I didn't escape the ' i.e.
'q1g'.$x.'ht' etc.

I am trying to get this in ( five blocks pf code ) into 5 lines of code by switching out the number ( $x) - I have already done it long hand - I want to learn this so if I had 25 blocks or a 100 blocks I could do more quickly

Here is what I have now that works ( long way )

//start question game 1 
         $event->q1g1_date = $dth->translate('q1g1_date');
           $event->q1g1ht = $data['q1g1ht'];
                      $event->q1g1at = $data['q1g1at'];
                        $event->q1g1htscore = $data['q1g1htscore'];
                      $event->q1g1atscore = $data['q1g1atscore'];
                    //start question 1 game 2 
         $event->q1g2_date = $dth->translate('q1g2_date');
           $event->q1g1ht = $data['q1g2ht'];
                      $event->q1g2at = $data['q1g2at'];
                        $event->q1g1htscore = $data['q1g2htscore'];
                      $event->q1g1atscore = $data['q1g2atscore'];
            //start question 1 game 3 
         $event->q1g3_date = $dth->translate('q1g3_date');
           $event->q1g3ht = $data['q1g3ht'];
Viewing 15 lines of 30 lines. View entire code block.



This how I want to do it ( this doesn't work ) - 
//            loop data
            for($x = 1; $x <= 5; $x++){
           $event->q2g$x_date = $dth->translate('q2g'.$x.'_date');
           $event->q2g$xht = $data['q2g'.$x.'ht'];
          $event->q2g$xat = $data['q2g'.$x.'at'];
           $event->q2g$xhtscore = $data['q2g'.$x.'htscore'];
          $event->q2g$xatscore = $data['q2g'.$x.'atscore'];
            }


In the code above $data = $post

Thanks
hutman replied on at Permalink Best Answer Reply
hutman
I believe you can achieve this by doing 

for ($x = 1; $x <= 5; $x++) {
       $varName = "q2g$x_date";   
   $event->$varName = $dth->translate('q2g'.$x.'_date');
       $varName = "q2g$xht";      
   $event->$varName = $data['q2g'.$x.'ht'];
       $varName = "q2g$xat";      
   $event->$varName = $data['q2g'.$x.'at'];
       $varName = "q2g$xhtscore"; 
   $event->$varName = $data['q2g'.$x.'htscore'];
       $varName = "q2g$xatscore"; 
   $event->$varName = $data['q2g'.$x.'atscore'];
}


One thing to note with this code is that you can put variables inside of a double quote string (like the $varName definitions) and they will get evaluated, but if you use single quotes you have to do it like the $data piece.

This should work, if I'm reading this correctlyhttp://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php...
INTcommunications replied on at Permalink Reply
INTcommunications
That works!
Thanks so much, now I have to do pretty much the same thing on the view page. It is a mix of divs and form helper inputs ( php + html ) - but I think it may be easier.
This has saved me a ton of time -> foward.
I hope this helps others. I worked in an office once and a girl was using excel and a calculator. She was inputting costs in a column and then adding them up. Kind of deflated her a little when I went over and clicked the SUM icon.
I have always said that if it seems like there should be a better and more efficient way of doing something, there probably is. Just need to find it - thanks again.
INTcommunications replied on at Permalink Reply
INTcommunications
Okay the form part wasn't as straight forward as I anticipated. I can get the loop going on everything but the control form helpers i.e.

without loop 
div class="row-fluid" style="border-bottom:1px solid #ccc;padding-bottom:10px;">
 <div class="span1"> 4 -</div>
      <div class="span2">
         <label class="control-label" for="q1g4_date">Game date</label>
       <div class="controls">             
      <?php echo $dth->date('q1g4_date',$data['q1g4_date'],array('style' => 'width:50px;')) ?>
       </div>
    </div>
</div>



then with a loop
<?php 
for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++) {
    echo "<div class='row-fluid' style='border-bottom:1px solid #ccc;padding-bottom:10px;'>
       <div class='span1'> loop- $i -</div>
        <label class='control-label' for='q2g".$i."_date'>Game date</label>
        <div class='controls'>             
       $dth->date('q2g.'$i.'_date', $data['qig'.$i.'_date'],array('style' => 'width:50px;'))
       </div>
       </div>
       ";
}
?>


I get a error at the $dth->date('q2g.'$i.'_date', $data['qig'.$i.'_date'],array('style' => 'width:50px;'))

tried with double quotes, without quotes - with form->text - it works on the label - this is really starting to bug me.

pulling hair out.

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '' (T_ENCAPSED_AND_WHITESPACE), expecting identifier (T_STRING) or variable (T_VARIABLE) or number (T_NUM_STRING) in /Users/anyone/Dropbox/DevSites/BlankDev/c5Dev/packages/predictions/single_pages/dashboard/predictions/add_predictions.php on line 345

Tried -
hutman replied on at Permalink Reply
hutman
Try it like this 
<?php 
for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; $i++) {
   ?>
   <div class='row-fluid' style='border-bottom:1px solid #ccc;padding-bottom:10px;'>
      <div class='span1'> loop- <?php echo $i; ?> -</div>
      <label class='control-label' for='q2g<?php echo $i; ?>_date'>Game date</label>
      <div class='controls'>             
         <?php echo $dth->date('q2g'.$i.'_date', $data['qig'.$i.'_date'], array('style' => 'width:50px;')); ?>
         </div>
      </div>
   <?php
}
?>
INTcommunications replied on at Permalink Reply
INTcommunications
You are a genius!

That works great. Wish I could double mark this one.
Now I completely get it. ( I hope )

This should be a how-to because it is a major time saver.